April 1981 RAIN Page 11 Detail from "Community Alert" poster. The full-size poster (30 x 48) is available in black and white ($3) and in color ($5). Write Energy Preparedness Poster-Prism, P.O. Box 2029, Flushing, NY 11352. 'em while they last!" The Special Edition on energy emergencies includes articles on the political and economic circumstances likely to lead to a cut-off in outside energy resources, and the localized preparations we can be engaging in to mitigate the effects of such a cut-off. There is a state-by-state guide which lists key people and offices to be in contact with in coordinating your plan. There are reference lists of books to check out and a Citizen Action Checklist. All excellent information. The "Energy and the Environment" issue provides capsule descriptions of such areas of concern as nuclear power, acid rain, the Clean Air Act and synthetic fuels. Each problem area is represented by what might be considered "pro" and "con" positions. For example, the question of acid rain is approached first by a Consolidation Coal Company executive who suggests that "the available evidence is too limited to make a determination" on the effects of acid rain. He goes on to state ,.An examination of the amount of coal burned in this country (from 1955-1973) ... reveals very little change in the total sulphur dioxide levels." Representatives from the Environmental Law Institute counter with "in many parts of the Northeast, acid levels are now 20 times higher than they were in 1955." This " dialogue" relies on the manipulating of statistics, and any student of Statistics 101 can tell you that you can prove just about anything with numbers and the selection of comparables. If you choose, as does the Ford Foundation in its exploration of nuclear power, to only compare nuclear power to coal-generated power (nukes: 1 death per year vs. coal : 2 to 25 deaths per year) you end up with a frustrating no-win situation. If you factor in the conversion to renewables the equation changes considerably. The Energy Consumer, in looking at both sides, points out the areas of argument and accord. Again, the resource lists provide local contacts for continuing to study these issues. -CC Energy and Power in Your Community: How to Analyze Where it Comes From, How Much it Costs, & Who Controls It, by Elizabeth Schaefer & Jim Benson, 1980,129 pp., $6 from: Institute for Ecological Policies 9208 Christopher Street Fairfax, VA 22031 There are many communities around this country that are preparing to move with ballot measures, referendums, public utility districts, etc., towards local populist control of energy resources and power distribution mechanisms. Developing energy use inventories and projections in these communities can seem to be an awesome task, and yet the numbers in hand that an energy plan will supply are among the best tools for gaining broad-based support for such agendas. Energy and Power takes the complexity out of Benson's (with Alan Okagaki) earlier County Energy Plan Guidebook and reduces the inventorying, projecting, and conservation scenario factoring to an easy-to-follow, stepby-step process. That's Part I of this little book. Part II is a "dirty tricks" guide for " Investigating the Power Network." Power here is used in most senses of the word; energy as power, the powers that be, em-powering as well dis-empowering. If you're planning to plan, start with this book. -CC The Community Energy CARE-ing Handbook, by Leonard Rodberg and Arthur Waskow, 1980, 165 pp. plus appendices, from: Public Resource Center 1747 Connecticut Ave. N. W. Washington, DC 20009 Subtitled "An Activist's Guide for Energizing Your Community Toward Conservation And Renewable Energy," this book is a very well outlined scheme for organizing but only if used in conjunction with much more information. As an outline it is excellent, but it is thin on technical material and an under-informed activist can lose credibility very quickly with only "a little knowledge." Where this book excels is in its spectrum of approaches to energy problems. Community energy co-ops, energy information centers, energy plans and more are all described, albeit briefly, but with reference lists to complement them. -CC
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